Eating in School

Chartwells, our new hot school meal provider will be supplying hot school meals from January 2017. You will have received a letter detailing how to register. The deadline for ordering is midnight Sunday, one week prior to consumption.

Online menus are now available. Please log onto https://dorset.mealselector.co.uk/to register and order meals. We appreciate that not all parents will have access to the internet at home, but please do not let this worry you, as the school will be happy to help. Please speak to our office staff.

If your child requires a special diet due to an allergen or intolerance to any of the 14 EU allergens, then you will need to provide medical evidence of this. Please contact bpdadmin@compass-group.co.uk or call the office on 01202 691038 to arrange the necessary paperwork. We ask that meals are ordered half termly in advance, however, you do have the option to order for the whole term.

As you know Infant School children get their hot meal funded by the Government, but you will still be required to book a dinner for every day each week. This is not an ad-hoc service.

If your child attends a Junior School and you are not entitled to a Free School Meal, then you are free to order and pay for a meal on an ad hoc basis. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help.

This is an online service only, and every parent/carer will need to register and manage their own child’s account. However, once again, if you have difficulties with accessing online please speak to the school office.

Free School Meals

Some children in the school will be eligible for free school meals. Every year thousands of pupils don’t get their free school meals, often parents do not realise they are entitled or are discouraged by the potential bureaucracy and personal information requirements.

Children who eat well during the day concentrate better in lessons and sitting down to a meal together is an important part of the children’s social education. If any of the following apply to you, then your family is entitled to free school meals;

Income Support

Income Based Jobseekers Allowance

An income related employment and support allowance

Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190.

If you think your child may be entitled to Free School Meals, please contact the school office for a form. Once completed you can either send it to the Borough yourself or return it to the school office confidentially, and we will forward it through our secure internal mail system to the Borough for you. It is very easy to arrange the meals.

All claims are made through the office and Mrs Easton (Administration Officer) will have a list of those children who are entitled to have a free meal ordered for them. Nobody knows at lunchtime who has free school meals and who has paid for them.

Free School Meals Important Information; If your child is entitled to a Free School Meal at the Junior School, please ensure you book a dinner for each day of the week.

Packed Lunches

Please try to ensure your child brings in a healthy, balanced lunchbox to keep them going throughout the day:-

Mark the lunch box clearly with your child’s name and class.

Squash, water or juice is allowed in lunch boxes, but glass bottles, energy drinks or fizzy drinks are not permitted in school.

A healthy snack of fruit or vegetables only is permitted to be eaten at break times. No other snacks will be allowed at break time.

No sweets at any time. As a healthy school, we are also unable to hand out birthday sweets on behalf of children.

We are a ‘nut aware’ school. To minimise the risk to children with a food allergy, parents must not include nut-based or foods made from nuts or peanuts in children’s packed lunches, please.